Drop Point Knife: Length overall: 8.13" (20.6 mm), Blade
Length: 3.9" (10 cm), Thickness: .116" (3 mm)
Weight:
Case with Knives: 30 oz. (850 grams)
Trailing Point Knife: 4.8 oz. (136 grams)
Drop Point Knife: 5.1 oz. (145 grams)
Blades: 440C High Chromium Martensitic Stainless Steel, Hardened and Tempered with T3 Cryogenic Process to Rockwell HRC 57
(trailing point) and 57.5 (drop point), Mirror Polished
Book Case Sheath: Engraved Leather Shoulder,
Bison (American Buffalo) Skin
Knives: The pair of knives are complimentary,
two versions of what, historically, were called "table knives," but
in our modern language and culture, they are called "steak knives."
In the past, smaller, sharp knives were a necessary utensil at any
table, and every diner would bring their own sharp knife and little
else. They would consume the entire meal with their knife and their
bare hands, and it
was called a "table" knife. 400 years ago, Cardinal Richelieu, a
French clergyman, became annoyed with diners then using their
pointed blades to pick their teeth. In order to stop this habit, he
ordered that knives used at the table be rounded at the point, thus
the birth of the "butter knife." About the same time, King
Louis XIV ordered that all pointed knives be illegal, no doubt
fearing for his own safety. Knives at meals remained this way for
centuries.
Then, after WWII, a machinist in Maryland (Paul Culver) was asked to
make a set of six "steak knives" as a gift for a businessman. He
made these from modified letter openers and the steak knife was
born. While early steak knives were made of softer, duller steels, and
often have serrated edges (because they were not made of advanced high
alloy tool steels), a modern steak knife can be an elegant, useful, and
sophisticated way to accomplish the task of cutting food while
dining.
This set was made together, yet
features knives that are distinctly different. One knife is a "trailing point" blade
shape, where the point of the knife trails higher than the spine.
This makes for a more angular, finer point for accurate and tight
cutting. The other knife has a "drop" or "dropped" point, where the
point of the knife drops lower than the spine. This makes for a
tougher, stronger blade point for heavier pressure. The handles are
also differently shaped: the trailing point has a forefinger groove
that encourages fine control, and the dropped point has a forefinger
quillon and handle belly that assures a stable grip. Each knife has
a distinctive, lightweight, yet solid feel; they are surprisingly different
and unique in use.
The steel I chose for these knives is 440C, my most asked-for
steel for a reason. It's very tough, highly wear resistant and
excels in corrosion resistance, for the lowest care needed of
just about any knife steel. I used my proprietary T3 deep
cryogenic process in heat treating this blade; it's a highly
detailed, extremely sophisticated process that takes 33
individual steps and takes over a week. The result of this is an
incredibly wear-resistant blade that has extremely high carbide
development, fine grain, and high toughness. Asperity is
reduced; the microstructure development is superior to any other
typical handmade knife, and far above any factory or
manufactured knife. This is, simply put, 440C at its very finest
advanced condition. Additionally, 440C is one of the
absolute best knife steels for cutlery use, particularly with my
T3 treatment, and meets all Food Contact Safety
requirements. The blades are smoothed and even, with no filework
for easy cleaning and hygienic use.
I bolstered the knives with zero-care 304 high chromium, high
nickel stainless steel bolsters, which are contoured, rounded and
finished for a comfortable feel. The bolsters are secured with
zero-clearance peened pins and dovetailed to bed the
handle scales.
The rounding and finished shape of the bolsters and
faces make the knives comfortable to grip and easy to clean. Of
course, polished 304 stainless steel is entirely food safe, very
tough, corrosion free, and requires no care apart from washing.
The handle scales are very special on these
knives. Both are Fossil Coral Agate gemstone from Indonesia.
This is an extremely hard agate, one of the hardest rocks I've
worked with. It's incredibly durable, solid and dense, and the
gemstone will completely outlast the knife and every owner,
lasting perhaps another several million years! Some fossil
corals are soft, with calcite bases, but this is not one of
them. This is actually mined in the mountains of Indonesia.
Indonesia is in the "Ring of Fire," an active volcanic area at
the border of tectonic plates of the earth's crust. Ancient
coral reefs from the Miocene (20 million years ago) were
uplifted, buried, and exposed to infiltration of minerals,
resulting in replacement of the original coral with silicon,
iron, manganese, and other minerals. This happened while
preserving the delicate and beautiful coral pattern. The result
is an extremely hard cryptocrystalline quartz (silicon dioxide
or agate) that takes a beautiful, hard, and permanent polish.
Please examine the macro photos and enlargements below to see
the character of this stone.
The knives feel extremely comfortable in
the hand, with solid handles and lightweight blades. Using them
will seem more like a scalpel than a blocky, springy, serrated
common steak knife, and they are smooth and clean.
Case: I wanted a special case, instead of
simple individual sheaths, since these are truly a complimentary
pair. I arranged a layered, stacked set of panels of heavy leather
9-10 oz. thick shoulder, and cut pockets for the knives and stitched
the stack into a solid "block" of leather. I cut and shaped finger
cutouts in the pockets to allow easy removal of the knives from the
case. The case needed a durable and beautiful cover,
so I selected American Buffalo (Bison) skin, an
extremely robust and thick leather. The cover is secured with
stainless steel dot snaps that will last indefinitely and never
corrode. Inside the cover, I've engraved the entire chapter of
Romans 13, from the New American Standard Bible (1995). The edges of
the book are smoothed and sealed, the entire
case is stitched with heavy nylon thread, dyed with a medium brown
dye to match the Bison skin, and protected with a durable and warm
wax finish.
A beautiful pair of knives, inspired by the Bible and the Maker himself!
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